Buddhist TV channel a celebration of India-Lanka ties

The satellite TV channel The Buddhist, inaugurated by Mahinda Rajapaksa in Colombo, would be a celebration of the ancient cultural and religious ties between Sri Lanka and India, reports PK Balachandran.

worldUpdated: Jun 30, 2007 20:39 IST

PK Balachandran

Hindustan Times

The satellite TV channel The Buddhist, inaugurated by the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa in Colombo on Friday, would be a celebration of the ancient cultural and religious ties between Sri Lanka and India, a top Sri Lankan official said.

"The coming into existence of this channel on the 2315th anniversary of the arrival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka from India, is symbolic of theinalienable and irreversible ties between the peoples of the two countries," the Secretary to the President, Lalith Weeratunga toldHindustan Times.

It was Prince Mahinda, son Emperor Ashoka of India, who brought Buddhism to Sri Lanka in the 3rd century BC.

Known in Sri Lanka as an Arahant (having attained a spiritual status second only to Buddhahood) Prince Mahinda and his sister PrincessSangamitta had a tremendous impact on Sri Lanka.

The island became a bastion of Buddhism, the Theravada school of Buddhism, to be precise. Today, Sri Lanka is the only Buddhist countryin South Asia, though in the past, the religion had a strong hold on much of India, and what is now Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"The relations between Sri Lanka and India may have had ups and downs, but these have only been conflicts between parties. The two peoples, Indians and Sri Lankans, have had no problems dividing them. The bedrock of the relationship has been religious and cultural and this is inalienable and irreversible," Weeratunga said.

Inaugurating the 24-hour channel run by the Sambodha Vihara Foundation and the private sector, including the Malaysian-Sri Lankan telecomcompany Dialog, President Rajapaksa said it was time Sri Lanka repaid its debt to the Buddha by spreading his message to the rest of theworld desperately seeking release from violence, greed and misery.

Weeratunga said that the President was quite excited about the project.

The satellite channel would begin with services in Sinhala and English but will soon have services in Tamil, French and other internationallanguages.

Domestic religious politics

Politically, the channel will help reinforce Rajapaksa's standing among the Sinhala Buddhists, who are more than 75 per cent of Sri Lanka's population, and who have been his main political constituency, political observers said.

Rajapaksa came to power playing the Buddhist card, and has to be seen as being a guardian of the faith if he is to remain in power.

Buddhism is entrenched in the Sri Lankan constitution as the "foremost religion" though other religious are given all democratic freedoms.The State is enjoined to protect the Buddha Dhamma (religion) and the Sangha (the orders of monks).

Unlike in India, religion is given a lot of importance in school curricula, state functions and broadcasting in Sri Lanka.

Buddhist children compulsorily learn Buddhism in school. Hindu, Christian and Muslim children are also compulsorily taught theirrespective religions.

Religion and media

Earlier on, the state owned Radio Ceylon had sponsored Christian programmes in its Asian service, which were big money spinners just asthe Hindi and Tamil services were. But Buddhist nationalists stopped it fearing conversion.

Presently, the cable services relay the Christian "God" Channel, which is popular among the elite. The Muslim services on radio and TV have a lot of religious programmes. Though Buddhist monks had been coming on the air regularly, there was no Buddhist station or channel as such. The Buddhist has filled the void.

Political observers said that the inauguration of a Buddhist channel might give rise to demands for the starting of Christian and Islamicchannels too.